Saturday, July 31, 2010

Got my wedding dress: part two

I am wearing my mom's veil for my wedding and when I tried on the handmade dress from esty, it just didn't look right. I tried dressing it up with a pair of nice heels, wearing the string of pearls (given to me on my 16th birthday from my mom), and even working my hair a bit to see if it would look right. And it never did.

Bound and determined to wear the veil, something so sentimental to my mom, I ordered another dress. Yes, it is more expensive. Yes, it is fancier. Yes, I do feel a little guilty about buying it. But I LOVE the dress, and I love how confident I feel in it. I cannot wait to wear it on my wedding day.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Just got my wedding dress

I chose to have a wedding dress handmade for me through a woman I met through etsy.com. It's a fairly simple design, made with cotton with a black satin sash, and it was made to fit my body. The woman did a fantastic job crafting it.

As an overall plan, I've had no interest in being a part of the so called "wedding industrial complex" that sucks brides into thinking their cake has to cost a small fortune and their invitations must be calligraphied by hand. Note that I said as an overall plan; on occasion, I will (shamefully) drift to theknot.com or look through pictures of friends who are married or local couples who have hired the same photographer, and I start to feel uncomfortable with some of the details surrounding our wedding.

But then I think about the end vision that we have in mind for our wedding. We want community, connection, and a true representation of our love. While the beaded gowns and imported flowers may be beautiful, the contribute in no way to the vision we have. We want to avoid a complicated, overly orchestrated event that is too focused on consumerism. We want to spend quality time with all of our guests.

When it's all said and done, I want to be sure that every detail that is planned has a purpose and fit within the vision and goals that we've established, and that may not mean spending thousands of dollars on floral arrangements. And I'm alright with that.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Seeking refuge from the fireworks

I'm the scrooge of Independence Day. Trust me, I'm all for having tomorrow off from work, but I'm not keen on my reckless neighbors having a huge arsenal of flaming rockets. Plus, we've been hearing fireworks since May, so by now, I'm kind of over them.

So, I'm hanging out inside, waiting for them to stop and hoping that they don't burn my house down. Ok, so maybe a bit dramatic, but I hate finding the remnants from the crap they shoot off in my vegetable garden.

I get that we should be happy that our nation was founded some 200 years ago, but are the fireworks necessary? There are so many examples of emergency room visits because of burns due to stupidity or faulty fireworks. More stray animals are picked up during the week of the 4th than any other week of the year because animals run scared. And what about young children whose parents are trying to put them to bed?

Not to be unpatriotic, but I could do without the Independence Day festivities.

Bah Humbug